True to His Word
by prettypurple
Summary: In Greeley, Mysterion does his best to look after Karen. When he makes a promise to her, he hopes he can keep it.
1. Chapter 1

_The characters in this story are creations of Trey Parker and Matt Stone._

* * *

**Chapter One: First Night**

Kenny and Kevin McCormick lay on their new beds, surrounded by their new foster brothers. This place was in mildly better condition than their old house, but Kenny missed the privacy of his own bedroom, with its posters of girls and monster trucks instead of these stupid "agnostic" sayings all over the walls. Kenny wrapped himself up in his parka, wishing he could go back to sleeping in his underwear.

"Hey, Ken!" Kevin whispered, nudging him. "Look what I brought!" He waved a couple cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon in his little brother's face, and Kenny gave him a "Dude, are you serious?" look. ("I don't want any.")

Kevin shrugged, and was about to open one of the cans before Mrs. Weatherhead opened the door to check on the boys. Kevin hastily concealed the beer can under his pillow and feigned sleep. By the time the stern-faced foster mother finally left, Kevin was asleep for real, but Kenny just couldn't close his eyes. He could hear poor Karen crying from down the hall.

As quietly as he could, Kenny pulled out his bag from under the bed, unzipped it, and took out his Mysterion costume...

* * *

Several minutes later, Kenny panted as he returned to his bed, throwing his blanket over himself to hide his superhero outfit when Mrs. Weatherhead came to check on the boys _again. _Didn't these people have anything better to do, especially at night? Stupid, nosy, weird foster parents and their stupid two-storey house; he'd almost died getting back here. Being a guardian angel was so much easier at home; Kenny never thought he'd miss his parents' inattentiveness.

* * *

In the girls' room, Karen fidgeted on her bed as Mr. Weatherhead continued to stare out the window. At last, he turned to leave.

"This is your first night here, Karen, so I will let this go. But, if I catch you up this late again, it's _the punishment room. _Understand?"

Karen looked down at her hands, to hide that she was crying again. "I...I...um...uh huh?"

The vague answer seemed to satisfy Mr. Weatherhead, and he left without another word, turning the light back off on his way out. Karen looked out at the night sky and fell asleep while mentally repeating her guardian angel's comforting words: _You are not alone. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will always be here._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Promise**

A couple of days later, Karen anxiously waited for her brother on the Greeley Elementary playground. This was the first time since coming here that Kenny had been late for recess, and Karen didn't like that at all.

"What if he forgot about us?" Karen whispered to her doll. Maybe Kenny was playing with his new friends today, or maybe he was with that mean fat boy from back home. Her head drooped at the thought.

Karen's body language and little pink doll practically screamed "I'm vulnerable!" to the school bully, fifth-grader Jessica Pinkerton. She'd been scouring the playground for fresh meat, and had had her eyes on the timid new first-grader for a couple of days. Now that Karen was finally away from Kenny's side, Jessica saw her chance to strike...

* * *

Kenny was on his way to the playground. At South Park Elementary, there was an unspoken rule about not playing with kids outside of your own grade, but Karen didn't really know anyone else at this school yet, and Kenny couldn't just leave her alone.

Lost in thought, Kenny only barely avoided getting bumped into by one of his new classmates, Stacey. She stopped to catch her breath.

"Kenny," she said between pants, "that brown-haired girl with the doll...that's your sister, right?"

Kenny nodded, feeling a knot twist in his stomach.

"You need to get to the playground!" Stacey said frantically. "Jessica Pinkerton wants to beat her up!"

Stacey ran off in the direction of the principal's office, and Kenny was glad that he'd decided to wear his Mysterion outfit under his parka today.

* * *

"Karen McCormick is _off-limits_!" Mysterion growled at the now bruised and bloody Jessica, shaking her by the hair. "_Do you understand_? Make sure everybody in this school knows!"

He dropped Jessica, threw some fireworks in her direction, and climbed up to the roof, with Karen holding onto him for dear life. With her added weight, it was a miracle that Mysterion was able to get up to the roof so fast. His back hurt like hell now, but he didn't show it.

"Thank you for saving me and Princess Dolly," Karen whispered, hugging her doll more closely. "My mommy gave her to me; I was scared that girl was going to take her away."

"I told you I would always be watching over you," said Mysterion. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said, but her bottom lip was quivering. "No!" Karen burst into tears and hid her face n her hands.

"What's wrong, Karen?"

"I hate it here!" Karen sobbed, burying her face in Mysterion's shoulder. "I want to go home!"

Mysterion sighed. "I know, Karen," he murmured, patting her hair. "You'll get back home soon."

Karen looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. "Do you promise?"

Mysterion hesitated before he answered. "Yes, Karen, I promise. Just be patient, and I will get you home."

Karen squealed happily and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you!"

"We shouldn't be here," Mysterion said, feeling a little awkward. "Let's get you back to your classroom."

It was far harder for Mysterion to carry Karen down from the roof than up to the roof, but he miraculously managed. When Mysterion was sure that the coast was clear, he guided Karen over to the open window of her classroom and checked to be certain that it was empty.

"This is as far as I can go," said Mysterion, helping Karen over the windowsill.

"Thank you, Angel," Karen said, letting go of his hand. She turned around and saw that he was gone. "Angel?"

She sat alone at her desk, thinking about all that had happened, when Kenny ran in, hoping to keep his little sister from believing that he'd abandoned her when she really needed him.

("Karen, why weren't you at the playground? I was looking all over for you!")

"Kenny!" Karen clapped and went over to him. "Something wonderful happened!"

At that moment, the bell rang, and in came the scowling old teacher with small, mean eyes.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" she barked at Kenny, sounding a lot like his late school bus driver, Miss Crabtree. "And Karen, your doll has to be in your cubby during class! I won't tell you again!"

("You can tell me later,") Kenny whispered. ("I gotta go.")

Karen nodded, and he left, praying that he'd be able to keep his promise to her. The opportunity to do that would come far sooner than he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Opportunity**

On the walk home from school, Kenny and Karen stayed a short distance behind their foster siblings. Kenny actually found these walks nice; he could hold Karen's hand without anyone teasing him, and he'd been afraid that Cartman would ruin it. Good thing that Cartman had been stupid enough to get himself in trouble on his first day. Why, out of all the foster homes that Cartman could've gone to, did he have to end up in the same one as Kenny?

Karen told Kenny all about what her guardian angel had done, and what he'd promised her. Kenny still didn't know when or if he would be able to keep that promise, and was relieved when Karen changed the subject.

''There are a lot of cows here, aren't there?'' she remarked, looking around.

(''Uh huh.'') He never thought he would see a place that had more cows than South Park.

* * *

As the children entered the house, Mr. Weatherhead did a head count.

''Let's see...David, Melissa, Amanda, Geoffrey, Matthew, Marlene, Caitlin, Inez, Robert, Kenneth, Karen...hmm.'' He scowled when he noticed that two boys were unaccounted for.

''Where is your brother?'' Mr. Weatherhead asked Kenny and Karen, who shrugged. Kevin didn't go to the same school, and Karen had given her eldest brother a wide berth since the night their parents were arrested, so they wouldn't know where he was.

''I asked you a question, children,'' said the foster father, folding his arms. ''Where is Kevin?''

''We don't know,'' said Karen, not meeting his eye.

''Good,'' Mr. Weatherhead said out of habit.''No, wait, that's not good! Why don't you know where he is?''

''He's always disappearing,'' said Karen.

''And where is Eric?'' asked Mrs. Weatherhead, having done a head count of her own.

("I think he's in detention, but I'm not sure,") said Kenny. Mr. Weatherhead could make out "not sure", and Mrs. Weatherhead sighed.

"From the moment I first spoke to that boy, I had a feeling that he might be a troublemaker," she said, being sure to emphasize "might".

_Lady, you don't know the half of it, _Kenny thought, remembering the whole business with Cthulhu.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing chores. That wasn't too bad, because with the Weatherheads' insistence that the house be clean, but not too clean, Kenny could do a second-rate job without getting in trouble. With her spirits lifted for the first time in days, Karen hummed like Snow White as she swept. It wasn't until dinnertime that things went south.

* * *

The only thing in this house that was anything like Kenny's real home was saying grace at dinner, and the Weatherheads' idea of saying grace was very different than that of his parents. Kenny spent the whole time tuning out his foster father and thinking that if he had to drink one more can or bottle of Dr. Pepper, he would kill himself.

''...nobody knows and nobody can know if any deity is watching over us,'' Mr. Weatherhead finished at last. ''Amen.''

''Except for Karen's guardian angel,'' piped up the kid named Geoffrey.

Kenny snapped to attention as Mr. Weatherhead looked up. ''What?'' Mrs. Weatherhead stopped spooning mashed potatoes onto everyone's plates.

''Where did he take you after he saved you, Karen?'' Melissa asked.

"He just took me back to my classroom,'' said Karen, ''and then he disappeared like always.''

Mr. Weatherhead scowled. ''What have we told you about making up angel stories?''

''But we saw him!'' Inez insisted. ''He leaped down from the sky!''

''And he kicked the crap out of Jessica Pinkerton!'' added David.

Mrs. Weatherhead smacked her fist on the table. ''That's enough, children! We do not speak such certainties in this house!''

''All of you get down to the basement!'' Mr. Weatherhead ordered. ''It's time for the punishment room!''

Karen burst into tears, clinging to her doll and Kenny's hand as they and their foster siblings were herded towards the stairs leading to the basement. There was a knock on the door, and everything went quiet.

''Keep moving!'' Mr. Weatherhead shouted at the trembling kids. Mrs. Weatherhead came back from answering the door, dragging Kevin by the ear. He kept hollering, ''What'd I do? What'd I do? ''

As a result of Kevin's arrival, the foster parents lost track of how many children they now had in the house, and Kenny was able to sneak away. Thinking that they had them all in the punishment room, Mrs. Weatherhead locked the door to the basement as poor little David was chained and left dangling from the ceiling by Mr. Weatherhead.

Now that Kenny was alone upstairs, he pulled off his parka and put on his hood and mask. Mysterion ran into the kitchen and began to remove the cans and bottles of Dr. Pepper, then threw them outside. Kenny could almost hear Karen call out for him.

_She's gonna hate me for not being with her right now_, he thought, but knew that time was crucial and he couldn't dwell on this worry.

* * *

_This is all my fault, _Karen thought as she watched David get hosed down with Dr. Pepper.

''What do we do, Kenny?...K-Kenny?''

Not getting a response from Kenny, she scooted closer to Kevin.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mysterion went to the boys' room, hoping that there was still a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon in Kevin's bag. To his relief, his booze-hound brother had managed to smuggle in quite a few cans, and so Mysterion took one. Kevin was not that good at counting, so with any luck, he would not notice one missing can.

That was when he heard someone banging on the door, and Mysterion listened as the Weatherheads came up from the basement to answer it. Now that the other kids had this brief reprieve, Mysterion fished a can of spray-paint from his brother's bag and decided that there wouldn't be any harm in giving the evil foster parents a little scare.

As Mysterion swiftly sprayed question marks all over the walls, he heard the voice of that creepy caseworker, as well as Cartman's grating rasp. Mysterion smirked. Maybe Cartman being here wasn't such a bad thing after all. Now he could get the Weatherheads' attention more easily. He eyed the spray can and the window...

* * *

Hearing something smash upstairs, the Weatherheads went up to investigate.

''_Excuse _me!'' yelled Mr. Adams, but the couple ignored him and entered the boys' room. They turned on the light, and their jaws dropped when they saw the smashed window and the question marks all over the walls. Mysterion was hiding and hurriedly scribbling a note as he heard Mr. Weatherhead question who'd done this, and that was his cue to run past them. He would make this evil couple certain of his existence, even if he died trying.

''What is that?'' Mrs. Weatherhead shrieked. They chased Mysterion into the girls' bedroom, and he gave them a death glare from his perch on the windowsill before disappearing from their sight and landing safely on the ground. He hid and watched as the Weatherheads stared out the window, looking for him, and found the note that he'd attached to the wall with a knife.

Mysterion returned to the kitchen through the back door, nearly tripping on one of the Dr. Pepper bottles that he'd thrown out. He placed the beer can in the fridge and went back outside right before the Weatherheads came into the room. He watched as the couple nervously approached the fridge and opened it, and he snickered as they curiously tasted the Pabst Blue Ribbon...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Lucky  
**

Mr. Adams unchained the soda-drenched David and set him down on the floor. Wiping away his tears of shame, he did a head count of the children.

''Aren't there supposed to be thirteen of you?''

Kenny, his parka covering up his superhero outfit, took that as his cue to come down. He put on a show of babbling unintelligibly and pointing upstairs with the arm that did not have Karen attached to it like a vine. The social worker ran upstairs and into the kitchen, with the children following curiously.

The Weatherheads were pounding on each other and shouting obscenities back and forth (in Southern accents, for some reason). A spilled can of Pabst Blue Ribbon lay at their feet. Cartman laughed and started to film the unattractive scene on his cell phone camera, but Mr. Adams started crying again.

''Oh my god!'' he wailed. ''Kids, get yourselves outside while I call the police!''

* * *

Within minutes, the Weatherhead house was surrounded by police cars and TV cameras. To Kenny s delight, Cartman was the first to get handcuffs slapped on him, and he was dragged to a police car kicking and screaming. Then the drunken foster parents were dragged from the house, still screaming at each other and struggling against the officers' tight grips as they were forced to tell the whole country that they were "white trash in trouble''.

''What do we do with all these kids, Mr. Adams?'' asked one cop. ''Find them new foster homes?''

Adams shook his head, still in tears. ''No, officer! Make sure all these kids are taken back to their parents! The foster care system has become an embarrassment that nobody will want to be a part of...like a Penn State homecoming party!''

The joy on Karen's face as Adams said this made Kenny willing to forgive that last stupid, tasteless joke. ''Did you hear that, Kenny We can go home!''

Though it wasn't visible from under his parka, Kenny smiled too as he overheard a cop tell Cartman that he could possibly face two months in prison for filing a false police report. This had certainly been Kenny's day.

* * *

Once the Weatherheads and Cartman were gone, the remaining children were allowed to return to the house and pack. The girls were quiet as they got their things together; their feelings about returning to their parents were mixed. Some of the girls' parents had been in jail, like Karen's, or suffered from mental illnesses, or had been in some other situation that prevented them from caring for their daughters, and the girls silently worried about their futures.

''I wish I had a guardian angel too,'' Inez said sadly. ''You're really lucky, Karen.''

''Maybe you do,'' Karen suggested. ''Maybe you all do, and you just can't see them.''

''I guess so,'' Melissa hesitantly agreed.

Once everyone had packed, Karen saw that the other girls were in a group hug. As Karen had only been here for a few days, she hadn't formed attachments to any of her foster sisters, and felt more than a little awkward. She watched for a minute, and then left.

* * *

Kenny and Kevin were the only boys left in the house, the others having packed and left in a hurry. They waited in the hall for Karen, and when she came out of the girls' room, she wordlessly slipped her hands into theirs. The siblings walked downstairs together, and Kenny found that he liked this. Hopefully, his recent lucky streak would last awhile.


End file.
